LAMPASAS, Texas — Some Lampasas residents are floored at what they witnessed driving on Private Road 3221 in Lampasas County.
Tosha Mcintyre was driving to work Monday, July 22 when she noticed a man tending to a few horses.
"A couple of other horses had walked up to the fence line and that's when I noticed, like they were all very skinny," Mcintyre explained.
Mcintyre said she found at least four horses that were skin and bones, food deprived and dehydrated. She also took a photo of one dead horse near a water faucet. According to Mcintyre, that faucet did not work at all.
"Technically, as of right now, they do have access to food, not nutrition food, but they do have something," Mcintyre added. "The neighbor is giving them water but it's not the neighbor's responsibility to do this if the owner doesn't want to take care of them."
When she and a number of people who saw the horses reached out to the Lampasas County Sheriff's Office, Mcintyre said their requests fell on deaf ears.
"They said that there's nothing they can do because they can't go on to the property to confirm or deny whether there was water or food available," Mcintyre continued. "They said that they were older horses and that's why they were in that condition."
6 News contacted Lampasas County Sheriff Jesus Ramos for comment on this situation. He said the owner of the property, Michael McGinnis, was highly embarrassed and humiliated after he found out what condition the animals were in.
"The owner lives somewhere out in East Texas and he says he will be down there to take a look and did not know that the horses were not being taken care of," Ramos explained. Ramos said the owner's son had been in charge of taking care of the land and the horses.
Ramos added that the owner said those horses were older, but Mcintyre believes that's no excuse for the condition they are in.
"There's plenty of rescues out there," Mcintyre said. "There are plenty of individuals who would be willing to help and take these animals."
Ramos said the owner of the property picked up the horses on Wednesday, July 24.
With the owner's permission, Mcintyre took one of the horses to her property and is nursing it back to health.
6 News will continue following this story as more updates become available.
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